“Generic Millennial Ad” perfectly rips millennial stereotypes

Millennials are perhaps one of the most stereotyped generations that’s ever existed, and a new“Generic Millennial Ad” from Calgary-based stock video company Dissolve has cleverly lampooned every millennial ad that’s ever been created. The ad is made entirely from Dissolve’s stock footage, and impressively captures the media’s clichéd view of millennials as a neatly packaged liberal demographic, defined by buzzwords, free spirits, and progressive causes.

The fake ad begins with “You are unique…you are different…you are special,” clearly mocking the “precious snowflake” label that has followed millennials into the university and beyond. The stock footage itself parallels this notion, depicting hipsters with everything from pink hair and nontraditional piercings to hoverboards and ukuleles. The video’s creators ingeniously show how the media has pandered to this notion of individuality and diversity ad nauseum.

From using catchphrases like “totes,” “BRB” and “join the conversation” to removing vowels from their words, the ad highlights just how hard media is trying to speak to millennials — to no avail.

The ad also brilliantly veers into the realm of social activism. Using stock footage of young people carrying signs and yelling at counter-protesters, the voiceover says “You love peace…love it…which is why you keep having peace parties on the street, where you express yourselves with colorful signs and spontaneous shows of patriotism.” The ad simultaneously mocks the number of liberal protests that have been organized since President Trump’s election and how the media tends to view all millennials as liberal activists.

Moreover, the ad rips the media’s narrative that millennials only care about the environment and LGBTQ issues. At one point, the voiceover highlights how they made their “one-hundred percent plastic products ten percent smaller that one time,” and made their brand “rainbow-colored for pride week”…because they’re “#BOLDlikeTHAT.”

Brendan Pringle is a freelance journalist in California. He is a frequent contributor to Red Alert Politics and has contributed to other conservative news outlets. He is a National Journalism Center graduate and formerly served as a development officer for Young America's Foundation at the Reagan Ranch. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanPringle.